This exhibition tells the story of animation in the UK through the twentieth century, from its beginnings in amateur film societies, through attempts to create a cartoon studio to rival Hollywood, to the development of a mature and diverse industry including film, television and advertising.

It does this through a unique archive of artwork and ephemera, the collection of Arthur Humberstone, a pioneering animator who made a major contribution to many of the most important animated films of the time, including Animal Farm, Yellow Submarine and Watership Down.

Humberstone was meticulous in his process, for Watership Down he kept and filmed twenty six rabbits using the recording to draw their movements, frame-by-frame. This exhibition gives us an impressive view not just of Humberstone’s art (although there is much of this) but also of the everyday collective complexity of making animations – the work charts, scene synopses, monthly progress reports (including output, bonuses and timekeeping), daily ‘sweatbox notes’ and interoffice memoranda, a history not just of the artworks but of an emerging industry during a time of great change.

Born in Derbyshire in 1912, Arthur Humberstone produced his first animation aged 15, but his first job was as a typewriter mechanic. Humberstone would go on to train at the ambitious but sort-lived studio Gaumont British Animation, before finding work on Animal Farm with influential studio Halas and Batchelor. As well as contributing to several major films over his career, Humberstone also worked on numerous TV advert and animated series including The Addams Family, The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show and The Poddington Peas.

Exhibition curated by Klive and Nigel Humberstone. Exhibition design by BA Graphic Design final year students.